r way to and fro. Now it would be a small sailing barge, with
captain, mate, and crew, comprised in one single hand, anon a
white-sailed yacht, with gleaming brass-work and spotless paint, or a
coasting collier, grimy and drab, her screw out of water, as she churned
her homeward way. In fine weather coasting passenger-boats ventured
near shore, while farther off the pilot-boats of many nations could be
discerned, decked with gay strings of signalling flags, and the busy
tugs plied far and near, endlessly on the watch for chances of salvage.

One misty day as Jean sat perched alone on the edge of the railed-in
garden, at a point from which she could have dropped a stone into the
sea beneath, a smooth grey keel glided noiselessly round the corner of
the cliff, and another, and yet a third--low-built, ominous-looking
monsters, the colour of the fog, the colour of the waves, Her Majesty's
battleships, each bearing on board its complement of seven hundred men.
To-night, as the daylight faded slowly away, the different lights at sea
attracted the watching eye. From the left came a merry, starlike
twinkle, as from a faithful friend who kept firmly to his post; beyond
him in the dim distance was the humourist, who for ten seconds on end
indulged in a stony stare, then darkened, gave two cunning winks, and so
again to his stare. Right ahead was the big revolving light which, like
a constable afloat, divided the traffic--"This way for the river, that
for the North Sea!" High over all swung the rays from the great
lighthouse on the downs.

Presently round the farther cliff came a great ocean liner, its cabin
windows showing out a blaze of light, the throb, throb of its engines
heard distinctly in the distance, a floating city, bearing home an army
of men: the man who had toiled and reaped his reward; the man who had
toiled and failed, the idler, the drone, the remittance man back again
to prey on his friends; the bridegroom speeding to his bride; the
trembler, to whom the wires had flashed a message of tragedy; the
sinner, fleeing from justice, the pleasure lover seeking a new world.
Those brilliantly lighted rooms held them all. Up the long channel they
sailed; past the shifty sand-banks, past the hidden rocks; gliding
smoothly along the beaten track, while the captain stood on his bridge
and grew pale beneath his tan. Until the dangerous channel was
navigated, he would not leave his post.

The three who were seated on t